Chapter 10 Everly
EVERLY
The wind whipping around my body felt good, but my mind was blank.
My home. It had been demolished with bullets.
Riddled with holes. I didn’t know what I was going to do, but I knew I’d never be able to go back there.
I’d never be able to live there and feel safe again.
All I had were the clothes in my duffel bag and the toiletries I’d managed to grab before the shootout started.
I couldn't believe the life my brother had fallen into.
That he would do that to his own flesh and blood.
I gripped tightly onto Grave as his bike carried us farther and farther out of town.
The woods grew thicker and denser, as we traveled further and further into the outskirts of the Shashta-Trinity National Forest .
It felt like we had been traveling for ages.
And with every bump I gripped tighter onto him.
Felt his broad muscles twitching underneath my fingertips.
Felt his warmth tick up a notch as he became more and more aware of his surroundings.
I wondered if he knew where we were going.
But he acted like he didn’t.
I pressed my cheek firmly into his back and tried to lose myself in the motions.
The soothing turns of the motorcycle and the heat of the engine revving between my legs.
I enjoyed being on a bike. But what I enjoyed the most was clinging to Grave from the back of it.
I wanted to fall asleep to the dizzying motions of the vehicle I was straddling, but I knew I had to stay awake.
Branches cracked underneath the tires and leaves crackled with every turn we made.
We made our way so deep into the woods that the sun could hardly shine through the canopy of trees.
Then, just when I’d had enough of driving through the damn woods, a clearing appeared.
It was small and camouflaged expertly by the trees around it, but it was completely hidden from the road.
And a cabin rose up from small path we turned down.
With its brick chimney and its woody outside and the small wrap-around porch that cloaked it from all sides.
Grave pulled up beside it, threw down his kickstand, and turned off the engine.
“We’re here,” he said.
I slid off his bike and stared at the house as he began to unpack everything from the small trailer he dragged out here.
It was a quaint little cabin, but it was old.
The wood was dark like the woods it was encased in.
The roof was shingled with camouflaged shingles that blended in perfectly with its surroundings.
The chimney was the only thing that stood out, but the brick was stained to be much darker than the red it boasted of.
Which gave yet another aspect of camouflage to the entire thing.
“Where are we?” I asked.
“I’d tell you if I knew. But this is where Diesel told us to go to keep you safe, so we’re here,” Grave said.
“So this is Diesel’s?”
“I guess so,” he said, shrugging. “Come on. Let’s get you inside.”
We walked up the porch, but the front door was locked.
Grave searched around for a little while, trying to find some sort of key.
I dipped down and looked under the mat while Grave tried scraping his hand above the doorway.
I figured I could check the mailbox for a key, but there was no mailbox in sight.
A cabin in the woods with no address.
Where the hell had Grave taken me?
Then, my eyes found it. A rock that looked out of place.
I walked down the stairs and picked it up, then shook it and heard the rattling sound inside.
I tossed the thing up to Grave and he caught it, then opened up the bottom and worked the key out.
He placed it into the rusted lock and opened the front door and the dust that flew out was immense.
Grave coughed and shielded his face before he put his hand out.
“Stay there. Hold on.”
I watched him stuff the key into his pocket before he tossed the rock back to me. I dug it back into the dirt and tried to hide it as best as I could. It stuck out like a sore thumb, and there was something inside of me that told me to try and cover it as best as I could.
The rest of the cabin was made that way, so why should the place where the spare key is kept be a sore sight?
I heard windows being thrown open before I saw lights come on.
Wonderful. At least the place had electricity.
There was a window air-conditioning unit that Grave turned on and I could see it sputtering out dust. Wherever we were, someone hadn’t used it in years.
I watched a fan in the main room get turned on high, and soon the dust was being pushed out of the windows and into the forest.
“Come on in,” Grave said. “We’re good now.”
He came back out onto the porch and picked everything up. I wanted to help with something, but he didn’t leave anything for me to get. I walked into the cabin and locked the door behind me, then took stock of the entire thing.
It was small. And quaint.
And secluded.
There was a small kitchen to my right and a living area to my left.
No television or anything. Just a couch and some chairs along with a rug around the fireplace.
The small hallway in front of me had a door to the left, a door to the right, and a door at the end of the hallway.
I watched Grave duck into one room and place my duffel bag on the floor before he emerged, then he took his small bag of clothes and walked across the hall.
Two bedrooms and one bathroom.
That would get interesting.
I went into the kitchen and started unloading groceries.
I was shocked to find some frozen things already in the freezer, but there was no telling how long they’d been there.
I put up all the meat and vegetables and drinks and stuff.
There were bags and bags of food, but I still wasn’t sure if it was going to be enough.
I went to put the rice and beans in the pantry and was shocked at the sheer amount of canned goods that filled the shelves.
Well.
I guess we would have enough food after all.
I stacked everything away and turned to find Grave staring at me. Just standing there as his eyes raked up and down my form. I cleared my throat and picked up all the plastic bags, then stuffed them underneath the kitchen sink.
“So,” I said. “What do we do now?”
Before I could even get the question out, tears were welling in my eyes.
I was so far away from home and the home I considered home wasn’t even home anymore.
Grave strode across the room and wrapped me up in his arms, pulling me close to his chiseled chest. I gripped his shirt and cried into the fabric of it, no longer caring about what I looked like.
My brother was in jail for murder, his club had tried to kill us, my childhood home was no longer safe and I was out in the middle of a hidden area in the woods, with a man I barely knew who was trying to protect me.
I was overwhelmed, and isolated, and I didn’t know who I could trust any longer.
“It’s going to be okay,” Grave said. “No one knows where we are. And if they find us, they have to get through me first.”
“Why is this happening?” I asked breathlessly.
“I don’t know,” he said. “But my club is gonna find out.”
“My brother. He’s-”
I couldn't even say it.
Grave rubbed my back as his chin fell to the top of my head.
I felt pathetic. Weak. My legs caved from underneath me and he gathered me up in his arms. He sat me on the edge of the kitchen counter and spread my legs apart, then wrapped his arms around me and cradled my close.
My head fell to his shoulder and he stroked his fingers through my hair, and I found the sensation soothing.
My tears were drying up and my sobs were abating with every stroke he took.
“There we go. It’s going to be alright. Deep breaths.”
His voice. It was so low, and rumbling. Foreboding. Filled with an equal amount of softness and guarded intent.
It made me shiver in his arms.
My nose nuzzled up his neck and brushed against his cheek. My eyes found his, brooding and igniting with fire. His hand cupped the back of my neck and steadied my face in front of his, then his eyes fell to my lips.
I wanted him to do it.
I needed him to do it.
My hands trickled up his chest and slid around his neck.
I tangled the tips of my fingers in the tendrils of the hair at the base of his neck.
I nuzzled his nose again and a small growl fell from his lips.
His hands were gripping me. Pressing into me.
Pulling me closer to him as heat grew between my legs.
“Everly. I…”
I closed my eyes and nuzzled my nose against his again, and the sensation broke him.
Our lips crashed together as his hand fisted my hair.
He shoved his tongue into the depths of my mouth and I moaned at his warmth.
He tasted salty. Masculine. Full of adrenaline as I gripped his shirt.
I pulled him even closer to me and spread my legs wider as his hands fell to my thighs.
My lips swelled underneath the pressure of his as his hands massaged my inner thighs.
His thumbs were pressing into me, shoving my legs open as wide as they could go.
I whimpered. Groaned. Tugged him closer so I could feel more of him.
His lips trickled down my neck, nipping at my skin and sending goosebumps ricocheting across my skin.
My hands twisted up in his hair as his face dipped to my breasts. His hands slid up my thighs. My hips. My stomach. He pulled my shirt over my head before his hands palmed my bosom. I moaned and leaned my head back as his hand pulled down and released them.
Then his lips wrapped around my engorged nipple and sent shivers down my legs.
The two of us clawed at one another until we were touching nothing else but skin.
My hands were trickling over Grave’s chiseled muscles.
His padded shoulders, thick with strength, draped over into a sculpted chest with sharp divots around the outline of his body.
My fingertips bounced over the sinewy muscles of his abs before they found the two padded lines that disappeared beyond the edge of the counter.
His arms were throbbing. Bulging with veins and muscle as his hands caressed every part of my body.
He massaged my tits and tugged at my nipples as he covered my body in kisses.
I felt alive. Beautiful. Distracted from the horror movie I’d been tossed into. His lips traveled further south. Past my belly button and the curve of my stomach. He pressed my knees open and knelt before me, then his hands gripped my hips.
He scooted me to the edge of the counter as I fell back onto my forearms, my pussy opened up for him.
Even kneeling on the ground, he was eye-level with my body on the counter. This massive man, with muscles sculpted from the marble columns of Valhalla, looked up at me with his devilish stare before he placed a kiss against my dripping pussy lips.
And I moaned as his tongue licked up my slit.